Louisville's first regular-season game is just around the corner, as the Cardinals are in the middle of their preseason after recently defeating Kansas in the first exhibition game. Next week, the Cardinals will host Mercyhurst on Oct. 28, then play their first official regular-season game on Nov. 2.
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With the regular season quickly approaching, major outlets, insiders, and reporters will likely make predictions for the upcoming season. The Cardinals are getting a lot of attention in these preseason predictions, as Kelsey built one of the country's top rosters and enters the season ranked No. 11 in the AP Polls.
ESPN recently predicted a conference player of the year for each NCAA conference, including the ACC, and the Cardinals' 5-star transfer, Flory Bidunga, received another major national recognition ahead of the season.
Flory Bidunga predicted to win ACC Player of the Year
There is a lot of hype around Bidunga as he enters his first year with Louisville and his third college season. The elite center, ranked No. 1 overall in the Transfer Portal and a unanimous 5-star transfer, is now closer to the season, and ESPN is showing why.
Myron Medcalf just predicted every conference player of the year award, and in the ACC, he picked Bidunga to take home the award.
"Last season, Bidunga -- arguably the best defensive player in the country -- was the captain of a Kansas squad that finished ninth in adjusted defensive efficiency on KenPom last season. The 6-foot-10 big man averaged 13.3 points, 9.0 rebounds and 2.6 blocks, and anchored a Kansas squad that had to weather Darryn Peterson's injury-related absences. Overall, opposing players missed 54 of 85 shots they attempted against Bidunga around the arc last season, according to Synergy Sports data."Myron Medcalf
The ACC has three teams ranked inside the top 11 and four inside the top 15, so Medcalf picking Bidunga speaks volumes about how good the 5-star transfer really is. The race for this award will be fun, with Bidunga facing major competition as Duke lands five 5-stars, including 5-star transfer John Blackwell, and Virginia's Thijs De Ridder returns for a second season after an eye-popping freshman campaign. But Medcalf predicted Bidunga, and the Louisville star has a real chance to win this award in his first season with the Cardinals.
Bidunga is coming off a dominant year at Kansas, where he earned First-Team All-Big 12 honors and won the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year award after averaging 13.3 points, 9.0 rebounds, and 2.6 blocks per game while shooting 64 percent from the field. He ranked top five in Division I basketball in total blocks (91) and blocks per game.
The Cardinals haven’t had a center or forward like Bidunga who can take over the defensive end of a game in a long time. Bidunga has areas to work on, like his offense, but Kelsey made it clear this offseason that they planned to expand his offensive game, and he showed flashes of that on social media.
This will be a fun year for Louisville fans, and Bidunga being predicted to win ACC Player of the Year is just another reason why. The Cardinals want to end their Final Four drought, and if Bidunga wins this award, many believe they have a good chance of doing just that.
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